Apple’s Big IP Victory

Patent fights may be keeping Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) busy, but with the huge brand identity that goes along with the company name, it also has those issues to take care of. The company now owns two more domain names that include its name in attempts to stop possible misuse of its brand. Apple had asked the World Intellectual Property Organization last month to let it take ownership of applecom.com and appleprinters.com. The company was helped by brand protection firm Mark Monitor, which has also worked with Facebook and Google (NASDAQ:GOOG).

Investing Insights: Will Apple Rule the World?>>

Last year Apple had complained to WIPO, a United Nations agency, about seven domain names with the word “iPhone” in their titles. The company managed to get those names, most of which redirected to porn sites, disabled. The domain iphone4s.com redirects to Apple’s main site. A few months before that, Apple had managed to gain ownership of iPods.com.

Whois records say Apple owns “about 1,071 domains.” However, it still does not own iPad.com, iBooks.com, or even iBookstore.com, which actually redirects to the mobile site of Project Gutenberg. Project Gutenberg is a volunteer program that digitizes literary works.

Apple has also been trying to get Wapple, a mobile internet company in the UK, to change its name. But this trademark case has not yet gone Apple’s way with Wapple insisting its name is based on the WAP protocol.